And the impact is being felt in Punjab too.
The bail for former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain of the AAP in the Delhi Jal Board corruption case has come as a shot in the arm for the party, which now has a fresh courtroom peg for its charge that the BJP has turned the Centre into an “ED party”, a reference to alleged misuse of central probe agencies such as the ED, or Enforcement Directorate.
AAP leaders want to capitalise on Jain’s arrest in Punjab in particular by telling the people that the BJP was interfering with its government and the election campaigning.
AAP’s Delhi unit chief leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said Jain’s arrest was “a mischief” because the BJP did not want him working in Punjab.
“There was no scam that was being investigated for many years. This is clearly a mischief to disturb a person who had to work in Punjab. We are happy that Satyendar Jain has been granted bail. We want to tell the union government that days of your rowdiness are numbered. Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Satyendar Jain and aide Vijay Nair were arrested by the ED, the CBI, or both in the Delhi excise (liquor sale) policy case. A court later discharged them. AAP leader Amanatullah Khan was arrested and chargesheeted in a waqf board-related money-laundering case. In case you really want to investigate, you should arrest all Akali-BJP, Congress and AAP leaders, including CM Bhagwant Mann and me. Shiromani Akali Dal’s Bikram Singh Majithia points to a longer version of the same alleged pattern.
More than 16 AAP leaders were arrested and named in corruption cases over the past few years. An FIR registered under the anti-drugs law in 2021 sent Majithia, a former minister, to the Patiala jail in February 2022 after his anticipatory bail efforts failed. In August 2022, the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him regular bail, stating there were reasonable grounds to believe he was not guilty of those charges. The government petition against that bail was dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2025. From the same probe team, a June 2025 report alleged assets of Majithia and his wife, MLA Ganieve Kaur, beyond known income. The state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau registered a Prevention of Corruption Act case against Bikram Majithia and arrested him on June 25, 2025, followed by a massive 40,000-page chargesheet. Lower and high courts denied bail, but the Supreme Court granted it on February 2, 2026, noting the completed chargesheet, seven months served, and delays in filing the case.
The court said that the case did not even deserve a chargesheet. He will resume his work,” Saurabh Bharadwaj said. Arora, reacting to the allegations, said, “Six CLUs in the matter predated AAP.
